PETROZIELLO MAKES HIS MARK OUT WEST

Originally Published on PeaceArchNews.com

For nearly half his life, David Petroziello has been a coach.

Just 30 years old, he has already spent 13 years as a head coach at various levels of basketball, all the way from the high school and college level to working with the provincial team program back in his native Quebec.

There has also been some work at camps and clinics in the U.S., plus this past December when Petroziello spent time working with the national team program in India.

And now comes his latest challenge as the head coach and general manager of the International Basketball League's Vancouver Titans, a professional hoops team with its office in South Surrey and based out of Langley.

"Coaching was a natural evolution from my playing days," Petroziello said.

Petroziello has graduated from coaching

 CEGEP AAA and the CIS to working with pros.

"As I was growing up, I knew I was going to be a coach and (my coaches) were prepping me from the time I was 13 or 14.  I occupied leadership roles on my team and it was just a natural evolution."

Growing up in Quebec, Petroziello played pretty much every sport imaginable and admits that he was probably a better baseball player than he was basketball player.

But there was something about hoops and the hardwood that drew him in.

"There is no other sport in the world I think where there is such a constant fluidity," he said. "I really latched on, connected with the communal aspect of the sport, the inter-dependence that is created just by the nature of the game."

He played power forward and displayed a strong basketball IQ.

"I wasn't the fastest guy out there, but I was smart and I knew where I had to be on the court," he admitted.

Petroziello coached at the high school level in his late teens and by 19, he was coaching college ball, with players two and three years older than he was, and who, as recently as the season before, had lined up against him.

After stints at Sherbrooke and Champlain-Lennoxville, Petroziello moved west to attend graduate school at Simon Fraser University in 2006.  It was at that point that he re-integrated basketball into his life, assisting the Clan's men's basketball program.

But now comes his next challenge, helping get the fledgling Titans program up and running as they make their debut in the IBL.

Starting a team from scratch requires a lot of work.

Mention the words 'pro basketball' in the Lower Mainland, and automatically many people think of the NBA and the Vancouver Grizzlies and the bad taste they left in many people's mouths when they bolted for Memphis in 2001.

"Our players are not million dollar athletes isolated in their bubbles," Petroziello said.

"As an organization, we are committed to involving ourselves in the community and working with the youth and our partners in the community to spread positive messages.

"It is a work in progress, but we are certainly excited by the initial reaction."